The following is a summary of “A new method of pulse control in cardiopulmonary resuscitation; Continuous femoral pulse check,” published in the June 2024 issue of Emergency Medicine by Sonmez, et al.

The reliability of manual pulse checks during cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) has been debated despite their continued recommendation in CPR guidelines. For a study, researchers sought to compare the 10-second carotid pulse check (CPC) performed between heart massage cycles with the continuous femoral pulse check (CoFe PuC) during CPR. Additionally, they sought to propose a more practical location for pulse checking to minimize interruption times in CPR.

A prospective study involving 117 non-traumatic patients with CPR was conducted from January 2020 to January 2022. A total of 702 pulse measurements were collected, with simultaneous assessment of carotid and femoral pulses. Cardiac ultrasound, end-tidal CO2 measurements, oxygen saturation, respiration, and blood pressure were utilized to validate pulse presence.

In the final CPR cycle, the decision time to determine pulse presence was significantly shorter for CoFe PuC at 3.03 ± 1.26 seconds compared to 10.31 ± 5.24 seconds for CPC (P < .05). CoFe PuC demonstrated 74% sensitivity and 88% specificity in predicting the absence of a pulse, while CPC showed 91% sensitivity and 61% specificity.

The CoFe PuC method offered a quicker and more effective means of pulse assessment compared to the CPC method during CPR. The approach significantly reduces interruption times in CPR and should be considered for inclusion in updated CPR guidelines as a new and beneficial technique.

Reference: sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0735675724001384